Fido may be cute, but can you capture it on film? Taking perfect pet photos can be a challenge

by
Nekesa Mumbi Moody | Associated Press

Friday March 06, 2009, 3:08 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- When Sir Elizabeth Taylor was just a pup, he was the subject of a fine photo gallery.

The Cavalier King Charles spaniel spent the early months of his life going to work with his owner, Lauren Bartel, in an online shop with a professional photographer, who would snap photos of Sir Elizabeth just for fun.

"Everyone would joke, did you take them at Sears?" says Bartel of the many portraits of her puppy, who was named after the dog owned by "Sex and the City's" Charlotte York ("I added 'Sir' so he can have some bit of masculinity," jokes Bartel).

But once Bartel switched jobs and had to start taking photos of Sir Elizabeth on her own, the quality of the photos sharply declined. With her point-and-shoot camera, she got something short of cute: blurry photos when the dog moved, or photos of a distracted Sir trying to pounce, irritated by the whirring noise of the camera.

"The best pictures I've ever taken of him are when he's sleeping," Bartel laments.

Although it seems as if there are thousands of new, heart-tugging images of someone's pet on the Web every day, there are plenty of frustrated owners trying unsuccessfully to get Fluffy or Fido to sit still for that snuggly shot.

Don't blame your pet -- or your camera. According to photography experts, the fault lies with the owner. With enough work and know-how, anyone can take a photo worthy of Cuteoverload.com.

"Most people can't get the kind of great results that we see on the Internet because No. 1, they don't take enough time; No. 2, they don't take enough pictures; and No. 3, they don't really think about the fact that what they're making is a portrait," says Chuck DeLaney, director of the New York Institute of Photography, which has a section on its Web site dedicated to taking great pet photos.

"You're not just pointing a camera at your pet and clicking the shutter; your pet is not the Statue of Liberty," he says.

Your pet is also not a person who can be told to pose a certain way.

Pet owners should be willing to spend lots of time and frames on what may ultimately result in just one or two great shots, according to photographer Jim Dratfield, whose business, Petography, counts among its clients the pets of Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron and Billy Joel.

Be patient with the animals, he says, and learn "to work at their speed, and respect the fact that they're animals."

You also might need a trick -- or treat -- up your sleeve. Bartel said one of her best shots of Sir Elizabeth was captured while holding a treat next to the camera lens.

"His tongue is hanging out the side of his mouth," she said of the close-up shot. "I want to blow it up and put it on the wall, because it's such a funny picture."

For Sir Elizabeth, food was his muse. For other pets, there are other ways to get that Kodak moment. Dratfield recalls two dogs whose owner told him that hearing the name of a certain city in Wisconsin would make their ears perk up.

"I tried Oshkosh -- I got nothing. I tried Green Bay -- absolutely still nothing, and then I said Milwaukee, and the two dogs just lit up, their heads tilted, and gave me the most amazing shot," he said. "What I didn't realize ... she was really telling me to say the word 'walk.'

"There's always one thing that sort of stops them in their tracks."

Sometimes, you might need to lurk like a paparazzo waiting for a starlet.

"I've got one cat that loves to sit very tall and proud on a particular edge of a table. He'll be there once a day. Take the time, wait till gets there, earlier in the day clear off the other junk on the table, so when he goes to that favorite spot, you've got him," says DeLaney.

Make sure the pets are large and upfront, he recommends.

"You want to get down lower ... getting down to the animals' level or even below it to make them look heroic is very important," he says.

And more crucial than the setting, pose or even the kind of camera is the idea -- knowing what kind of photo you want.

"Is it Sparky the obedient dog, or Sparky the dog of action, or Sparky playing with his best friend?" DeLaney says.

The best shots usually come when the animal's personality shines through -- especially if you're lucky enough to get their eyes gazing into the lens.

"Because animals are so honest with their response, if you get them looking right into the lens, it's like looking into the window of the soul with an animal," Dratfield says.
It may take work to get it, but for owners like Bartel, who keeps a camera handy for those cute moments and uses it at least once a week on Sir Elizabeth, it's worth the effort.